


Seeing In Color

by Tangerine_Catnip



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Empathy, M/M, Obsession, Short One Shot, mind shareing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 20:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6344050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack refuses to leave Rhys' mind and reconnect to Helios’ internal system.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing In Color

Rhys flinched as the adapter retracted from the small metal port on his right temple. He leaned back in the yellow chair, his eyes on the holographic screen as he waited for the blue tinted image of Hyperion's king to appear.

A long moment passed, then a few more, but nothing was happening. The screens were dark and the station was dead silent.

"Jack?"

"I'm right here, kiddo."

Rhys jolted and glanced around, he couldn't see the holographic form of his ex-boss anywhere. But he could tell the voice was coming from inside his head, so jack had to be somewhere in his cybernetics.

"Is something wrong, why aren't you in Helios' system?" Rhys asked, feeling a little self-conscious speaking out loud when he didn't have anywhere to direct it besides at himself.

Jack didn't answer for a moment. Rhys hated it when he got silent like this. If Handsome Jack had to stop and think about what he was saying, then reality itself was turning on its head.

"No. I just decided I don't want to go back."

Rhys wished he could see the expression on Jack's face, really anything that would give him a clue to what the heck he was thinking right now.

"You don't want to go back? Do you mean into the Helios system?"

"At least I know your ears work numb-nuts. Yes, that's exactly what I said."

"But you can't control Helios from inside my head?"

"Helios can take care of itself. You're the big CEO now, figure it out."

Rhys' brow creased and he stood up from Jack's desk chair. Confusion and irritation compelling him to pace around as he talked to the voice only he could hear.

"So, you're just going to live inside my head?"

"That's the plan, as it turns out, there's actually more empty space in here then inside a whole space station."

"Jack!"

A growl crackled though Rhys' mind. Static cutting up the animalistic sound.

"Just leave it alone."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong. I know you, and you're acting really strange, like way stranger than usual. I'm actually kind of worried about you."

Jack went quiet just long enough for Rhys to think he was being given the silent treatment. Then finally, he spoke up.

"Rhys, can you imagine living your whole life and never being able to see color?"

Rhys blinked. The question was so out of left field he didn't even know how to answer. Jack didn't seem to care though and continued on.

"Nha… I bet you can't. You're so used to seeing it. You take it for granted every day of your life. Give it a shot though, because it's the best metaphor I got."

"Now imagine if it wasn't color you couldn't understand, but feelings. You go through life thinking you know what happiness is, what pain feels like, how love can fill you up and gut you all at the same time. Then, some nobody who got his stupid ass stranded on Pandora plugs you into his head, and suddenly you're forced to realize that you didn't actually understand any of those things. That all those people who called you a heartless monster were right all along."

Jack took a long breath in. A breath he didn't need, but one he took anyway.

"I was broken Rhys. I was broken this whole time. I thought everyone else was just weak and sentimental but that was just because I couldn't feel anything. I didn't realize 'till I was back in the network. Once I was separated from you, everything went back to how it was before. Endless grey on black and white. A yawning emptiness that will never go away, that won't ever be satisfied."

Jack seemed to drift off a bit at the end there, then snapped back to focus as his attention shifted.

"So, if you care about me at all Rhys, and I know you do because I can feel it, you'll let me stay here. You're not a machine. You have whatever the fuck meat-Jack didn't, and as long as I stay in here with you, I don't have to be without it either. I am not going back to seeing in black and white. Got it?"

"S-sure. Whatever you say Jack…"

Rhys was so stunned by this tirade he didn't even know how to react. It was too much to process all at once.

"Good…" Jack purred.

Rhys imagined Jack curling up in a corner of his mind and getting comfortable. Like a cat settling into a warm spot on the couch.

Rhys needed time to think this over, till then he would just have to keep on sharing a part of his mind with Jack. He had done it on Pandora for weeks, surely he could live through a few more days.

Right?


End file.
